The Deputy Director of Elections and IT for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Rashid Tanko-Computer, has accused the Electoral Commission of acting in bad faith, prompting the NDC's decision not to withdraw its agents from vote transfer centres.

Dr Tanko-Computer highlighted that during an IPAC meeting on May 29th, discussions were held regarding the Constitutional Instrument (CI) related to voter transfers.

He pointed out that CI 127 governs these transfers, explaining that after the voter registration process, the Electoral Commission announced it was handling transfers and proxies.

However, Dr Tanko-Computer noted that the enabling regulation concerning transfers contained a significant gap in CI 127. This, he argued, contributed to the NDC's stance.

Speaking on the JoyNews AM show, he stated that “it is very silent about the deployment of party agents to observe the pieces. It has not debunked them, and it has also not allowed them. There is a lacuna there, on both ends. It is not clear in the CI.”

Dr Rashid Tanko-Computer disclosed that during an IPAC meeting chaired by Jean Mensa, it was decided that party agents should observe the transfer process due to prevailing suspicions and transparency concerns.

He acknowledged that while the law does not explicitly mandate the presence of party agents, their involvement was deemed necessary to ensure transparency in the electoral process.

“Nobody is doing anything untoward because we have issues with the returning officers they recruited. You remember when we held a press conference addressed by our General Secretary and that we had issues with the people they had picked as the returning officers, and the returning officers are the people in charge of the transfer

“So, if we have issues with their appointment and they are to guide the process of the transfers and we fold our arms and allow this thing to go, no. We won't accept it,” he said.

Dr Rashid Tanko-Computer stated that IPAC agreed, as documented in the May 29th meeting, that political parties should be allowed to observe the transfer process.

He noted that there were no objections from any parties or the Electoral Commission at the time.

However, the Electoral Commission later reversed its stance and disagreed with this arrangement on the basis that some violent incidents were being recorded at some centres.

“They all said it was good for transparency sake. So, we all exited and smiled. Everybody was happy. We even had a joint press briefing after the IPAC meeting, but only for Sunday evening, a memo came out from the Electoral Commission, signed by one of the deputy commissioners, Tettey, now telling their officers not to allow party agents to observe the process. That is bad faith. Meanwhile, you have already given us a letter inviting us to an emergency meeting on Monday, and the agenda was transfers,” he noted.